How We Use DNA in The Crime Lab
The use of DNA is used in our everyday life. The police use DNA as evidence in their cases. DNA is also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is the genetic material that programs cells within the body. The police can use DNA to trace the genetic material to solve their crimes because everyone’s DNA is different. “the process of comparing or matching two sets of DNA is known as DNA typing, DNA fingerprinting, or genetic fingerprinting”. Relatives DNA are similar then those who are not related. You can leave your fingerprint at a crime scene but you may not realize that you can leave DNA also. There are many forms of DNA that you can leave at the scene of a crime. Some of the forms of DNA that you can leave at
Again, if this crime was committed when we knew more about DNA, the defendant would probably have been found
The leader of this group, named Deirdre, said that scanning extra objects for DNA is important, ”When I talked to DNA experts that they were saying, ‘Yeah, I mean, if you swab that and get some skin cells or saliva and it’s just random, you get no hit on anybody, well then it neither here nor there.’ But they were saying, ‘but if put it in and you get a hit on a serial killer… well now you got enough to charge and convict somebody.’ So what you call relevant and irrelevant you can only do once you have a test result” (111). Deirdre likes to test anything that could possibly lead them to another suspect in the crime. Not everyone in the detective business is, however, not like her.
DNA testing has been changing lives for the wrongfully convicted. Innocent people are being released from prisons because of DNA. Ronald Cotton was fortunate to have been found innocent thanks to DNA evidence after being imprisoned for years. It may not always be that way, though, there are still people being locked up once DNA has ruled them out.
Today, the FBI has DNA records of more than 5 million convicted offenders in the database CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System. However, DNA fingerprinting has limitations: it is limited to directly connecting crimes to felons already in CODIS, has high risk of contamination, does not look at familial records, and only analyzes short pieces of DNA. With the advent of more affordable and high resolution genetic technologies after The Human Genome Project, over 35 million people have submitted their DNA to the largest direct-to-consumer genetic companies. Two companies, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, also allow law enforcement access to their databases. Thus, beginning investigative genetic genealogy, a new method of forensic investigation not only with higher resolution DNA information than DNA fingerprinting but also the capability of finding a suspect from distant relatives.
In the lab report three students are tested along with one suspect. Student number two’s DNA matched the suspects DNA. The student’s DNA’s are cut with five different enzymes as well as the suspects DNA. Student two’s DNA matched exactly with the suspects DNA; the other two student’s DNA did not resemble the suspects DNA at all. (Choi, et al, 2008) DNA fingerprinting is used a lot in determining who committed a crime.
Stories about the use of DNA evidence to convict offenders or exonerate defendants in criminal cases have become increasingly common in the recent years. Forensic DNA technology is transforming the way law enforcement officers investigate crimes, especially violent ones. DNA has an extremely important role in criminal trials due to its power of exoneration of innocent individuals. Many wrongfully convicted individuals, but later exonerated by DNA evidence, falsely confessed or made an incriminating statement. This can be seen in the Earl Washington case as presented by Frontline.
In King, Justice Kennedy referred to the invention of DNA technology as “one of the most significant scientific advancements of our era.” This statement has been criticized, but the impact of DNA technology has been significant. Currently, forensic analysts can use “junk” DNA to identify a person with near certainty. Law enforcement can collect a person’s DNA through saliva. The sample is then uploaded to CODIS, a national network of DNA databases.
Destiny Johnson LSTD 502 Criminal Law January 10, 2016 A. Research Paper Topic: Wrongful Convictions B. Law abiding citizens should not be wrongfully convicted of a crime that they did not commit. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) was first used to aid a criminal investigation by Professor Jeffreys in 1986 for rapes/murders that occurred in the United Kingdom. The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Prior to DNA testing there were hundreds of wrongful convictions.
The next topic to show why DNA testing is important to law enforcement is the unanalyzed evidence stored away hoping one day to be tested. There was a study done showing over a time frame of five years that there was about 40% of unanalyzed rape and homicide cases that had DNA evidence waiting to be tested. They suspect that there maybe a few causes for this kind of problem. These unanalyzed cases are a part of backlogs and they are terming as cases of justice denied. Some speculate that the investigating officer can be a cause of why evidence is not tested.
The Department of Justice says, "States began passing laws requiring offenders convicted of certain offenses to provide DNA samples. " That DNA evidence can help convict someone of a crime and it helps to uncover more things about the crime itself. Investigators have been using forensic science to help them solve cases since before the 90 's, mostly fingerprints that were found at the crime scenes and on the victims (O 'Brien). DNA evidence has solved countless cases including ones that happened over a prolonged period of time because of the technological advancements there is
“On September 20th, 1986 a young woman was killed and, left behind at the scene, was a piece of DNA that investigators hoped would help solve the case” (Biemesderfer). There was no way to identify people yet. Nowadays, you can identify whose footprint it is by investigators and
The number of DNA Evidence that had wrongly accused inmates was a total of 333 in thirty-seven states (“Exonerated DNA”). Inmates that have committed a crime have to take a DNA test. DNA Evidence will prove whether a convicted person is innocent or guilty. There is many unsolved cases due to the fact that DNA testing did not go the way it was supposed to and screwed up the results. Not taking peoples DNA is a major issue due to the fact that many people are wrongly convicted and are put into prison for a crime they did not commit.
I feel that DNA is the only reliable forensic tool because its principles are example of real science. Mentioned in the video, forensic science was developed by law enforcement, but DNA analysis was developed by medical science. A much more reliable source. There may be certain situations where DNA isn’t the best tool to go off of. Like for example if there isn’t an enough quantity of it at the scene of a crime or if it has been mixed with someone else’s (Kaye and Sensabaugh, 2000).
DNA in Forensic Science DNA is the carrier of genetic information in humans and other living organisms. It has become a very useful tool in forensic science since it was discovered. In forensic science, DNA testing is used to compare the genetic structure of two individuals to establish whether there is a genetic relationship between them. One example of the use of DNA in forensic science that is important in biology today is comparing a suspect’s DNA profile to DNA that was discovered at a crime scene.
DNA in forensic science The majority of cells making up the human body are diploid cells carrying identical DNA, with the exception of haploid gametes and red blood cells. Several types of biological evidence such as blood and hair are commonly used in forensic science, which is the scientific study of evidence for crime scene investigations and other legal matters. Forensic science is used for the purpose of DNA analysis, this is the analysis of DNA samples to determine if it came from a particular individual. DNA analysis is done by obtaining DNA samples from an individual; next, a large sample of DNA is produced from amplified selected sequences from the DNA collected.